Thursday, 10 August 2017

ARC: Zero Repeat Forever

Zero Repeat Forever

He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind.

Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall.

His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting.

Until a human kills her…

Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance.

Shelter in place.

Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless but what choice does she have?

Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend.

Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival comes to depend on trusting each other

My Thoughts

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. This in no way influenced my review and opinions*

Initially I saw this book pitched as an alien invasion/survival novel set in Alberta and I KNEW that I needed to read this book. I’m from Alberta and pretty much the only books I’ve ever read sent in my province were pioneer stories- I was SO ready for something new!

Plus I’ve oftentimes scoffed at zombie shows or alien invasion shows because in the province I grew up in, you could happily disappear into the mountains and live a happy live with the bears and mosquitoes. With that idea in mind I could wait to see how Prendergast would take this idea and run with it.

I loved how this story and it’s characters where so real (sometimes heartbreakingly so). The characters fought for survival, they questioned their abilities, they made mistakes. Above it all, there was a constant thread that these crappy things happen, and sometimes we don’t know what to do, but somehow humanity lives on.

The main character Raven is so complex and intricate. Prendergast has woven a true, real young teenager in the character of Raven which is this books biggest strength. She makes mistakes and gets frustrated, she’s angry and sad and in love all in one. I would really like to see more of her family dynamics in the second book- Raven herself is both black and white and struggles with not fully belonging to either group. On top of that her stepfather is an influential Metis activist. Her character was such a realistic example of what it means to be Canadian.

I had heard this book being marketed as a romance but I’m not sure how much I agree with that. In a sense, I feel like the story is more about the deep bonds of friendship and learning what it means to love another being. Its about the innate need of all humans to have a connection with others and while that connection may be a romance, it can also be so much more. So I would say that this novel is so much more than a fluffy romance, it is flawed and intertwined and full of deep explorations of humanity and what that means.

Looking back I also love how the cover and title connect so well with the book! The cover is pretty without any context but once you read the book and understand I can see how perfect the design is for this book.

So I'd mark August 29th on your calendar and head out to your local bookstore and pick up this great Canlit book